


The Chronicles

by coolohoh



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 16:25:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 39
Words: 17,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9665417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolohoh/pseuds/coolohoh
Summary: The land of Vihar has been thrown into chaos. Is there anyone with the bravery and skills to save the world?





	1. Ohno Satoshi

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer and notice to all readers: This is a really long fic, over 60 chapters and I'm still maybe... halfway through the story. I'm determined to finish this series though! Each chapter is really short, typically under 500 words... So I'll try and post a chapter daily to make up for the short chapters. Don't ask me why I make each chapter so short. It just is. That's how it ends up and that'll be how I post it.
> 
> I've mentioned many JE characters in my story, but I don't actually follow any JE group besides Arashi. Please do not take offense if your favourite JE idol was OOC, unfairly represented or anything... I'm merely using their names because it makes it easier for me to write when I have a face to refer to, rather than completely making up a new character. (Not that there aren't made up characters too but... nevermind.)
> 
> Comments are most welcomed. Anything beside complain about the short chapters (see above). I hope you'll enjoy the story!

In the quiet farming village of Pranas, there lived the Ohnos. Like everyone else in the village, they were farmers. Growing simple crops such as wheat and corn for a living. Ohno Satoshi grew up an inquisitive young boy. He chased butterflies in the fields, caught beetles and fireflies, and reared crickets and spiders. When he was not out playing with the other boys in the village, he would be playing pranks on his older sister, or aggravating his mother. Being overly curious and a little defiant, as boys his age often were, he did everything his mum warned him not to do. Like the time when he stood on the chair by the dinner table, fell down, and sent the pot of hot miso soup flying, or the time when he put his hand in the small gap behind the door and got his fingers squashed so badly that his nails fell off, or the time when he cut himself with a knife. While most of the time Ohno was merely enjoying his time playing in the fields or swimming in the river and not actually causing trouble, his one too many adventures gone wrong convinced his parents to enrol him to the military academy in the nearest city as soon as he came of age.  
  
His mother was reluctant at first. Life in the military was a harsh one after all, but his father convinced her otherwise.  
  
"That boy needs some discipline in his life! He's only 12 but we've already lost control over him. What will we do when he's older? What if he gets into crime?"  
  
His mom couldn't help but agree.  
  
The young boy protested violently of course. Who would want to be separated from their parents, and be sent to undergo harsh training at a tender age of 12?  
  
“You’re not even going to get accepted anyway!” Ohno’s mother scoffed off-handedly as she had finally given up on trying to calm the young Ohno down.  
  
Ohno did get accepted however, despite the fact that he tried his darn hardest to fool around during the trials. The general was convinced that Ohno had the fluidity and talent to became a great fighter. However, Ohno merely thought it was bullshit and that his mother had somehow bribed the general to take him in. Nonetheless, that began Ohno’s long stint away from home.  
  
He would wake up at 5 am daily to wash up, tidy his room, and join the other trainees - all boys around his age - in their morning exercises. After breakfast, they would have lessons until noon. After lunch it was two more hours of studying again before they had practical lessons - weaponry training, combat training, that sort of thing - and in the evenings after a light dinner they would be sent out on various chores. Scrubbing the floors, doing the laundry, tidying the library and cleaning the windows. The routine was repetitive but tiring. Harsh punishments and tiring trainings soon left Ohno far too tired to think about rebelling. He soon mellowed down and started focusing on his training.  
  
It helped that Ohno had talent. Even though he struggled academically, he breezed through combat training. His moves were smooth and fluid, like water flowing from one stance to another. Where the rest of the boys his age were tripping over their own feet due to, at least in part, to their growth spurt, Ohno moved with the grace and poise of an experience dancer. He was nimble, and he was quick. While he lacked brute strength, he more than made up for it in speed.  
  
By the time Ohno was 15, he was acknowledged as one of the best fighters in the academy, and allowed the option to specialize in combat training. He only had to take the bare minimum number of academic courses.


	2. Sakurai Sho

Ohno got to meet Sho when he was awarded the blue ribbon when he was 16. Blue ribbon awards were only given to the top trainees in the cohort, and had the better dormitory, with large comfortable beds and their own bathrooms.  
  
Compared to Ohno, Sakurai Sho had a very different background. Coming from a family of elite nobles, there were high expectations on his shoulders from the day he was born. He carried that burden with confidence and pride though, and performed well academically. Being a noble, he was put into a different class from commoners like Ohno, and they would never have met if not for Ohno’s exceptional performance.  
  
Still, despite having won himself the blue ribbon fair and square, Sho was only mocked by the other cadets. And mock him they would, for that man had absolutely no physical talent whatsoever. He could recite the military code backwards, but still trip over his laces. What lack of talent he has in the physical department, he makes up for it with hard work instead. He was decent in combat, but only because of his brute strength and hard training more than anything else. While others practiced a move 100 times, Sho would do 300. When others had gone to bed already, Sho would be swinging his practice sword in his room while trying to remember fact from his textbook. Still, he was easily bested by skilled fighters like Ohno, who once made him smash up the entire training ground without getting a single scratch on himself.  
  
Sho admired and was jealous of Ohno for his talent - he made history for being the only blue ribbon who failed all his academic exams. On the other hand, Ohno was irked by Sho, who set the record for being the worst blue ribbon fighter. What place is there for a soldier with all brains, and brawn that he cannot use? Oh right. Son of a noble. He’d be the commander sipping on his brandy in a command post far away while commoners like Ohno fought the wars for him.  
  
Ohno pretty much kept to himself and tried to ignore his roommate as much as possible, however ‘giving up’ was not in Sho’s vocabulary. He wanted to make friends at the academy and he wanted Ohno to be that friend and that was that.  
  
Eventually, Ohno started warming up to Sho, and they soon became close friends. And to each other’s benefit too. Ohno found that by simply training together with SHo, he could absorb *something* academically as Sho would recite the textbooks as he trained. Meanwhile, Sho benefitted from having Ohno show him and correct him on his moves. As the boys continued to train together, their friendship deepened.


	3. It's Magic!

It was summer when they had their first magic lesson.  
  
20 young, burly men slowly shuffled, grumbling into the classroom to meet their teacher.  
  
“This is Kaiser Matsuyama, he will be your magic instructor.” Commander Nakai boomed before he left the room.  
  
The pale, skinny man waited for the cadets to get seated before he began speaking.  
  
“You might be wondering why men of the sword might need of magic. Well, I can assure you there are plenty of uses. Take this wooden plank here,” Matsuyama said as he held out a long plank of wood.  
  
“I’m sure anyone of you can easily break it. But not if, I use strengthening magic on it.” Matsuyama said.  
  
He picked Yokoyama, who was sitting right up front to try and break the plank.  
  
Yoko picked up the plank and tried to break it on his knee but ended up yelling in pain as the hard plank smacked him hard, refusing to deform by even a single millimetre.  
  
“Ow!!! That hurts! Sho-kun you try!” Yoko yelled as he tossed the plank over to the well know ‘brute master’ of the class.  
  
Sho stood up and passed the plank to Ohno.  
  
“Hold it for me?”  
  
Ohno merely nodded as they moved to the back of the room for more space.  
  
Sho lined up and got ready to do a backspin kick.  
  
“Wham!”  
  
Sho kicked at the plank with all his might.  
  
“Ow!” Ohno yelped as the impact of the kick transferred onto his hands.  
  
The plank had been ripped out of his hands by the impact and flown some distance off - and still completely intact.  
  
“That, is the power of magic.” Matsuyama beamed.  
  
The magical plank was passed around for students to examine. No matter how they tried to scratch or bang at it, it remained pristine.  
  
“Is this really just a piece of wood?” Sho asked questioningly.  
  
“Yup, how about I remove the magic and you give it a go again?” Matsuyama said as he touched the plank and concentrated for a brief moment.  
  
“There.”  
  
Sho grasped the plank on his hands and gave out a mighty cry, breaking the wood dramatically into two.  
  
Gasps of surprise and wows went out through the room.  
  
The initially bored class was now eager and ready to learn.  
  
“As you might expect, if you can master magic and use it to enchant your weapon and armour, you will have a huge advantage in battle over your opponent.”  
  
“And save money too!” Yoko quipped.  
  
“Yes that too,” Matsuyama chuckled.  
  
“Not everyone will be able to do magic naturally however, so let’s start finding out!”


	4. Hands up if you can do magic

It must have made for quite a sight. 20 men standing with their eyes closed or in various stages of concentration, each willing to make a tiny marble in the sand pit move.  
  
“I can’t even see the marble, it’s too small!” Maruyama complained.  
  
Their teacher, Matsuyama, pretended not the hear him.  
  
“It’s true, the marble is so tiny I can’t even see it clearly standing up,” Ohno thought.  
  
He squatted down next to the marble and admired the pretty folds of color within it.  
  
“Now won’t you move a little for me please?” Ohno thought as he continued staring at the marble.  
  
Suddenly, he felt a weird tickling sensation move up his toes, into his calf, his thighs… up the rest of his body and then… The marble moved, shooting off in the sand and hitting Yokoyama’s marble.  
  
“Hey! Stop playing! Why did you hit my marble!” Yoko shouted as he looked around for the owner of the rogue marble.  
  
Ohno squatted on the floor with his mouth wide open.  
  
“Hey, it’s magic class, why are you playing marbles!” Yoko accused.  
  
“I didn’t! I didn’t touch the marble! It moved!” Ohno beamed.  
  
“You’re squatting down! You shot off the marble with your hands right!”  
  
“No I didn’t! Where’s my marble! I have to try it again!” A shocked Ohno exclaimed.  
  
“Here, take mine!” Sho pressed his marble into Ohno’s hand.  
  
Ohno put the marble on the floor and willed it to move, his time with all his classmates gathered around him. After what seemed like an infinity, the tickling sensation returned and the marble moved again, though more lazily this time.  
  
“Yoshaa! I did it!” Ohno pumped his fist in delight.  
  
“Yatta!” A cry rang from the side.  
  
“It moved! It moved!” Murakami exclaimed.  
  
Murakami gave Ohno a fist bump. The other cadets started bombarding the duo with questions, wanting to know how he did and how it felt like.  
Ohno described the strange tickling sensation he felt. “You felt it too right? The strange sensation?”  
  
“Eh? What? No I didn’t… It felt like the energy was coming out of my palms but it didn’t tickle…” Murakami said, confused.  
  
“Eh? Nande? That’s weird…” Ohno frowned.  
  
Matsuyama too frowned at Ohno’s description.  
  
“Well, I guess magic is different for everyone.” Matsuyama commented.  
  
“What we call magic is actually something called life force. It’s energy that is projected from you. So you are using up your energy reserves when you move the marble.” Matsuyama continued.  
  
“What do you mean by life force?” Sho asked.  
  
“Think of it as your body’s energy reserve. You need energy to do activities like running and jumping… But you can also use that same energy to do magic. So that’s my word of caution to you guys. Do not try to do impossible things with magic, because if the energy needed is more than what you can safely provide, you might die."


	5. It's raining fireballs

Sho approached magic just as he did with other subjects. He trained long and hard. It appeared that Sho did not have a pre-disposition to magic, but through sheer determination managed to will himself to use it. Surprisingly, once he got the hang of it, Sho appeared to be really good. The fireballs he managed to conjure were big and hot, the magic hardened planks took more force to break.  
  
“It’s because Sho has trained himself well physically and has more stamina,” Matsuyama said.  
  
“You mean the magic energy pool and physical energy pool is one and the same?” Yokoyama asked.  
  
“It’s not exactly the same pool, but they are related. When you have more physical stamina, your life force pool naturally increases a little as well.” The teacher explained.  
  
“Ohhh…” The class nodded in understanding as they all naturally turned towards Ohno.  
  
The boy was throwing fireball after fireball non-stop without tiring.  
  
“Ohno-san is really amazing…” They muttered to one another.  
  
Matsuyama frowned as he approached Ohno.  
  
“Are you ok, please don’t over work yourself. You can get injured if you use too much life force!”  
  
Ohno cocked his head and looked at the instructor while still conjuring fireballs. “I’m fine, it’s not even tiring.” Ohno muttered.  
  
“Ok, but I want you to take a rest anyway.” Matsuyama ordered.  
  
Ohno obediently complied. Matsuyama looked at Ohno closely as he walked off. The boy wasn’t even sweating.  
  
“That boy has some amazing talent,” Matsuyama thought to himself. He made a mental note to examine Ohno’s magical capacity, or mana, after the next lesson.


	6. Emergency

The next magic lesson never came for Ohno.  
  
The following day, news rang out that the entire village of Pranas had been raided and razed to the ground, and there was no news of any survivors.  
  
Ohno’s blood chilled as he heard the news and he immediately felt a sense of doom washing over him.  
  
“They’re gone,” the shadows seemed to whisper.  
  
His parents, grandparents, even his sister.  
  
The academy principal gave Ohno the permission to go home, or what’s left of it.  
  
“Can… Can Sho come along with me?” Ohno asked.  
  
“Sure… Pack up all your belongings, and take these with you,” Johnny said as he passed two gold ribbons along to Ohno.  
  
A distraught Ohno thought nothing more of the ribbons has he stashed them into his bag together with the rest of his belongings.  
  
“You can take as much time away as you need,” Johnny said as he bid the boys farewell.  
  
“If you need help from any military men or academy, show them your ribbons!” He yelled as the boys waved back before disappearing into the woods.  
  
Somehow, Johnny-san knew that he might never see the duo again.


	7. Long Way Home

It was a long trek home. The boys marched in the day and made camp by the moonlight. It was three days since they left the academy when they finally arrived in Pranas. Or what’s left of it anyway.  
  
Ohno felt nothing but a numb, icy pain pierce his heart as he saw the remains of burnt down houses. Corpses lined the streets, their rotting stench a painful reminder of the fragility of life. Ohno pushed on.  
  
He nearly could not recognise what was left of his house. Ohno broke down crying.  
  
Corpses.  
  
Flies.  
  
Maggots.  
  
No one left alive.  
  
“Sho… I…” Ohno gave up trying to speak and collapsed sobbing.  
  
“It’s alright Ohno, I’m here…”  
  
Sho dug the graves and buried his best friend’s family that day.


	8. General Sakurai

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi folks! I'm really interested to know how many people are reading this series... Would love it if you could put in a quick comment, or like the fic or something! XD

Ohno felt like an empty shell.  
  
He tried to get himself out of his grief but couldn’t.  
  
“Soilders are supposed to kill, death is part of our lives,” he tried to convince himself.  
  
But killing others and knowing that your family got killed is a different thing, and having lost all family at just 17 was too much for even a top cadet like Ohno to bear.  
  
“Hey, how about we head to my home? My dad might know something…” Sho suggested.  
  
Having no plans anyway, Ohno agreed.  
  
  
Sho’s home was in Reese, the largest city in the region of Candis, of which Pranas was also a part of. His dad was the general-in-chief of Candis, and was therefore in charge of all security affairs in the region.  
  
It was Ohno’s third time visiting Reese. He had been there once with his family just before he enrolled to the academy, and once during the summer break three years ago together with a few of his fellow cadets. At that time, Ohno had not even met Sho yet.  
  
The path to Reese was well established, but it seemed particularly quiet. Ohno had been hoping to hitch a ride on a caravan of some sort, but now there was scarcely a person on the road.  
  
“Is it normally this quiet around here?” Sho asked.  
  
Ohno frowned.  
  
“I don’t think so, usually many merchants would be coming to and fro between the villages and the city…”  
  
Something seemed amiss, and the boys quickened their pace.  
  
“My dad should know something about this….” Sho muttered as they hurried along.  
  
  
  
Sho was both right and wrong about his dad. When they finally got to Sho’s castle, they realised that the castle was in a state of emergency. While the city was functioning and looked normal enough, things in the castle was frantic, almost to the point of chaotic.  
  
“I’m so sorry about your loss Ohno-kun, but I’m afraid that there’s nothing much I can tell or help you.” Sakurai Shun sighed.  
  
“There seems to be a resistance army that calls themselves the "enlightened" doing the raiding and we have lost several platoons of our men as well. The situation is really chaotic and we’ve not had any news from the capital in two months!”


	9. News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another really short chapter... If the number of words in a chapter is less than say... 200, I'll post two chapters that day. So you can look forward to the next chapter in a few hours. :)

News from the capital did eventually arrive. But the news was far from happy.

“King Nercomancer Eremes is now the new king of Vihar. Let it be know that the Enlightened army will dispose of all who oppose me. All existing generals are to come to the Capital and swear featly to the new King in three moons. Generals who fail to do so will be executed. All hail the King!”

“Papa, who is this Eremes person and what has become of King Joshima?” Sho asked, worried.

“I have no idea my son, no idea at all."


	10. History - it's important

After hearing his son’s question, General Shun ordered his staff to dig into the history books. The name Eremes seemed so familiar yet so foreign to him. He swore that he’d heard the name being mentioned before, but could not remember when or where.

It was 3am in the morning another two days later when Shun was woken up by his aide.

“Sir, we found a mention of the name Eremes and ‘necromancer’ in one of your records.”

Shun hastily got out of bed and strained his eyes to read the scroll in the weak candlelight.

“The necromancer Eremes was put to an eternal death by the great magician Matchy and all ancestors of the Eremes have been wiped out to prevent future uses of such powerful ability. As such, the name of the Eremes was erased from history and never to be mentioned again in the year of Genji 333. Only the magician warlord of the famed Kaiser family may know the details of the conquest by Matchy.”

The scroll was dated Genji 501, a whole 20 years ago. Shun took a deep breath and tried to remember the meeting.

He took the memo during his first meeting at the capital. He had just been promoted to general-in-chief and thus deemed fit to get a glimpse into some of the hidden history in the land of Vihar.

Shun lay in bed till the sun rose, thinking about what the sudden change in monarchy meant for his family and the moves that he should make.


	11. Eremes

“I have to go to the Capital.” Shun declared at breakfast the next day.

“But Pa…”

Shun raised his hand to stop his son from speaking any further.

“I know, King Eremes is not a King whom we want to follow. But if the chaos in the region in the past few months is of any indication, he is not one to be messed with.”

“My son, Johnny-san has you sheltered from the surrounding news to protect you, but Pranas was not the first and only village to be razed.” The tone in Shun’s voice was grave.

“Further out was Stirlock, razed before we knew it. Even in the Dotas region we heard plenty of rumours about the horrendous acts of the Enlightened army…. We… We cannot afford to mess with the Eremes and his army or we shall all perish.”

“I would rather die then work for this man!” Sho shouted out angrily.

“Ssshh. If we are to die, then what of the civilians! Who would be left to protect them? No. We need to live. And we need the help of the magicians. Travel to the Mikatsuki region and seek out the Kaisers. In my notes I have it written that the magician warlord knows the details of the previous conquest against the necromancer. We need their help if we were to defeat this one. And we don’t even know if it’s the same necromancer…. How could someone live 200 years…. Gosh, what kind of sorcery is this? Magic huh… What did you boys learn about magic in school?” 

Ohno merely shook his head.

“Erm… Not much… Not enough…” Sho shook his head.

“Well the new King has ordered me to the Capital, and to the Capital I shall head. But you my boys. You are trained warriors now. Head to the Kaisers and seek their help. Tell them of the situation here as well. We need a Kingdom united to defeat this threat!”

“What about Matsuyama-sensei?” Ohno asked, speaking for the first time. “He is a Kaiser as well.”

Shun shook his head.

“I know his parents, they are born and raised here in Reese after their parents, that is Matsuyama’s grandparents, came here at the request of the military academy to serve as magic instructors. They are far away from the happenings of the magician guild. They do not know of Eremes.”


	12. Gold Ribbon

Sho and Ohno spent the rest of the day packing for the long journey ahead. In the case of Ohno, he had to learn horse riding as well. 

“Why didn’t we learn horse riding in the academy??” Ohno grumbled.

“Well… I did…” Sho muttered.

Only students from the upper class had the privilege of learning horse riding, and even though Ohno and Sho had the same lessons after they got the blue ribbon, horse riding wasn’t one of them.

 

Ohno was packing up his bag when he saw the crumpled gold ribbons hiding at the bottom.

“Oh! Look Sho, I totally forgot about this, this is for you.”

“What is it? Wait what…? Gold ribbons? That’s only given to the top graduating cadets. Wait you mean we have… graduated?” Sho asked.

“I don’t know.” Ohno shrugged. “Johnny jiji gave them to me before we left. What good is it anyway?” 

“Oh! Loads of things. It’s like a free pass. Like a sign of the officer… We can get free lodging at any academy.” Sho gushed.

“Provided they still recognise it that is…” Ohno said sourly.

“True… With the necromancer shit and all…” Sho sighed.

“And we’ve not even finished all the lessons too…” Sho grumbled.

“Yeah… I was hoping to learn more magic… It’s really fun you know…” Ohno mused.

“I don’t get it, how can you shoot fireballs continuously over 3 hours? And you don’t even freaking sweat! You are insane!” 

“I don’t know Sho… I just… Do it, you know?”


	13. Horsey

General Shun had a party to send Ohno and Sho to the border between Candis and Dotas, and then they were on their own.

They have been riding for two hours before either of them spoke.

“You are really the general’s son Sho. You are so calm and confident. Here I am, I don’t even know what I’m going to do…” Ohno confessed.

“You got it all wrong Ohno… I’m just as lost and afraid as you are…”

“I hope we won’t meet the Enlightened…” Ohno muttered.

“Yeah… I hope not. Say, we should keep practising and keep out skills sharp, should we not?” Sho asked.

Ohno nodded as he tried to conjure a gust of wind.

The horse whined as trembled as he did so.

Sho frowned. 

“Don’t do it when you’re on the horse. You’re scaring him!” 

“Sorry…”

That night, they had to stop early because Ohno’s horse was more exhausted than usual.

Sho patted the horse. “I hope you’re ok little buddy, we still have quite a ways to go on our journey."


	14. The Chuuka

It took a week before the duo saw civilisation again. A small town by the name of Hestia. 

It wasn’t that there hadn’t been any villages, but the villages they came across were either razed or abandoned. And Ohno and Sho’s moods darkened with each passing village.

They checked into the town’s only inn, the Chuuka. 

“Hi, welcome to the Chuuka, would you like a room or a meal?” A cheerful boy roughly the same age as them asked.

“A room for two and a meal please.” Sho politely replied.

“How long would you like to stay?” The boy asked as he continued wiping the tables.

“Erm… Just one night I guess… And I suppose we can rest our horses in the stables?” Sho asked.

“Oh horses! Of course, Nino! Geez where did that little brat go. Will you please bring the horses to the stables?” 

A skinny and pale boy prattled out, muttering under his breath.

“Oh don’t mind him, Nino is always like that. I’m Masaki, welcome to the Chuuka inn!” Masaki said. “Give me a moment, I’ll show you to your rooms and you can get some rest before coming down for dinner, I’m sure you are starving!”


	15. Aiba

Masaki showed Ohno and Sho to a clean and spacious room in the second floor of the inn. 

“Ahh…. Ii na…” Ohno cooed as he flopped on the soft bed of the inn.

“Oi Ohno-san! Don’t fall asleep. Let’s go for dinner!” 

Ohno reluctantly agreed.

 

Dinner was a scrumptious meal of braised pork, stir fry veggies, gyoza and a large bowl of steaming hot rice. The boys ate ravenously. Ohno was exclaiming ‘umai’ with every other bite. Sho however, couldn’t relax as he found the lady boss constantly staring at him.

Sho has just made the decision to ask the lady boss of the inn about her actions when she spoke instead.

“I’m sorry for constantly staring… Do you happen to be the son of General Shun?” the lady boss asked.

“Eh?” Sho was shocked.

How could she possibly know?

“I’m sorry… I just thought you look very much like him… He comes here every so often to get tailor made armour and weapons from my husband you see… Oh sorry, my husband is a blacksmith, I forgot to mention that…”

“Aiba-san?” Sho asked.

“Ahhh yes yes, Aiba is my husband’s family name.” The lady boss replied.

“Ahh souka, I’ve heard of the amazing work your husband does with celestial bronze.” Sho replied. His dad had often praised the Aibas for their handiwork and righteousness. 

“I must bring my husband here! He’ll make some good armour and weapons for you and your companion, these are troubled times, we need young warriors like you…” The lady boss left the inn to find her husband before Sho could get a word in.


	16. Celestial Bronze

The atmosphere tensed up when the lady boss returned with her husband. They talked in whispers and closed up the inn.

“What’s happening?” Sho asked.

“Shssh. It seems like the Enlightened soldiers have reached this town.” Aiba mama said.

“What’s going to happen?” Ohno asked.

“They are here for the bronze. They want my bronze… No they shall not have it.” Aiba senior shook his head.

“This… Celestial bronze… Can I see it?” Ohno asked.

He was intrigued. He had heard much about the magical material at the academy, but never had a chance to see it.

Aiba-san nodded and disappeared into a backroom of the inn. He appeared a while later with two swords in his arms.

“Here, try them.” Aiba-san said as he passed each of them a sword.

Ohno took his time to admire the sword. The scabbard alone was a work of art, exquisitely decorated with a dazzling array of patterns. Ohno drew the sword. The metal glistened in an array of colors, like oil on a puddle of water. However, Ohno noticed the edge was blunt.

“Testing swords. We don’t want customers cutting themselves up do we?” Aiba-san grunted.

“Fight. Show me how you fight.” Aiba urged.

Sho gave the sword an experimental swing.

Ohno started the duel going, slashing out towards Sho. As they fought, Ohno’s appreciation for the blacksmith’s work increased. The sword was well balanced, and despite being a tad heavier than the ones he was used to, it cut the air with ease, executing his moves perfectly like an extension of his hand.

“That’s enough.” Aiba-san declared. “I know what sort of swords you should have. A heavier, sturdy sword for Sakurai-san just like you dad and a lighter one emphasising speed over strength for…” 

“Ah, I’m Ohno.”

“For Ohno-san… Say Ohno-san, are you familiar with the ways of the katana? I feel that the katana would suit you better”

“Ah yes I’ve trained with it before on occasion but…”

“You really don’t have to make weapons for us, we do not have the means to pay you Aiba-san,” Sho finished the sentence for Ohno.

“Oh there is no need for payment, I served your father for many years Sakurai-san, it would be an honour if I can serve his son as well. Especially in difficult times like this… Just last week we heard news that the Hudson village is no more…” Aiba-san’s voice trailed off.

“His family was from Hudson, all murdered…” Aiba mama replied. “You baka. Stop crying, we have to be brave and face the future.”

Aiba-san nodded as tears welled up in his eyes. He turned and trudge off to the backroom. 

“I’ll work on your weapons and armour as fast as I can, please wait for me to finish them,” Aiba-san choked.

“Armour too?” Sho wondered. 

To his side, Ohno had also started sobbing.


	17. Escape

It took Aiba-san two days to finish fashioning the equipment. A full set of plate armour with a heavier and broader than usual sword for Sho, and a katana with a leather armour set for Ohno.

“This armour may be light, but it is still reinforced with the best celestial bronze. If you further reinforce it with your own hardening magic, you’ll be invincible.” Aiba-san told Ohno.

“You should leave tonight after dark, when it’s easier to slip out….” Aiba mama said as she handed some dried food stuff to the duo.

“Ma, they are here, they are here, coming up by the river!” Aiba burst into the inn yelling.

“Otosan, where is he! He must hide!” A panicked Aiba cried.

“Shhh. Don’t make a ruckus! Go pick up your belongings and leave with Nino, you have packed up your things haven’t you?” Aiba mama said calmly.

A teary eyed Aiba nodded and rushed up the stairs.

“Please take them with you, as far as you can. At least Nino knows the the area around here really well so he can get you out of here.” Aiba mama pleaded.

Sho nodded absentmindedly. Things where moving too fast for him to comprehend.

“This way!” Aiba mama said as she shoved four boys into an underground tunnel. 

“Mama, come with us.” Masaki pleaded.

“I’ll come in a moment, I’ll get your dad and cover up our tracks.” Aiba mama promised.

The trapdoor closed and the young Aiba never saw either of his parents again.


	18. Tunnel

The tunnel seemed to go on forever. Thankfully Ohno lit up the path with a magic spell. Sho couldn’t have been more grateful for having his magically inclined friend around. While he could also use the same spell, he could only maintain the light for 5, at most 10 minutes.

“Just how far does this tunnel go?” Ohno asked. It felt like they had been walking forever.

“Till the foot of the misty mountains.” Nino answered.

“That’s… that’s impossible! How could you dig such a long tunnel!” Sho exclaimed.

Nino shrugged. “I don’t know, I didn’t dig it.” 

“My ancestors dug it after the Great War. After all we are all makers of the highly sought after celestial bronze and everyone wanted to get their hands on the weapons and kill us.” Aiba explained. 

"Who else can make celestial weapons?" Ohno asked, curious about the material. 

"There's no one else..." Aiba said as tears once again choked up his eyes.

Nino shot Aiba a quizzing look but kept his mouth shut.

"And now he's gone..." Aiba broke out sobbing.

"But why would they kill your dad...? Don't they want him to make weapons for them?" A clueless Ohno asked.

Aiba shook his head. "He would rather die than work for the necromancer..."

The rest of the walk in the tunnel was in silence.


	19. Nino

By the time they emerged from the tunnel, the sky had gone completely dark. In the distance, they could see raging fires in the direction of Hestia. Fires so bright they tinged the night skies red.

“Enough. We have to keep walking.” Nino chided as a tear threatened to fall from Aiba’s eyes.

“Where should we head to now?” Sho asked as he turned to look at Nino.

“We should stick by the side of Misty Mountain till we get near to Thestia. Hopefully the Enlightened aren’t doing a mass killing there… From there, we need to find a boat that can take us across the Misty River to Mikatsuki… Then after that… I don’t know, I’ve never been to Mikatsuki. My territory is only Dotas.” Nino shrugged.

“You seem to know Dotas really well…” Sho remarked.

“I used to live in the streets.” 

“Eh? You two are not brothers?” Ohno asked, surprised.

“Nope… Aiba mama just kinda… Adopted me?” 

“Eh, then what happened to your parents?” Ohno pursued.

“I have no idea… I’ve been roaming the streets with other beggers since I was three… I don’t remember anything before that…” Nino said before turning around and starting to walk, indicating that he was not open for any further discussion about his past.


	20. Thestia

You would think that travelling together makes you closer… But not with the case of our little group…

 

Nino mostly skirted around the rest, darting about this way and that, checking out the paths and foraging for food. Aiba was mostly beside himself with grief. And Sho and Ohno mostly spoke in low voices amongst themselves. At night, they made camp and Nino and Aiba would watch as Ohno spurred with Sho by the campfire. They were clinging to the sides of the mountain, far away from towns and villages, hence Nino judged it safe to start a fire. Once, he even caught a rabbit and they had a luxurious (in their circumstances) rabbit BBQ.

Things fell into a comfortable routine. With four people in the group, each of them could sleep longer while one of them kept watch. Nino would take the first shift, followed by Ohno and Sho, with Aiba preferring to wake up really early to take the last shift. They still don’t know much about each other’s history, but they were starting to learn about each other’s habits, personality and behaviour.

“Say, what would we do after we reach Thestia and find a boat? Then what?” Ohno asked as they were approaching the city.

“We follow along of course, I want to see the hometown of the magicians.” Nino stated as a matter of factly.

Ohno looked to Sho for his opinion and the other man merely shrugged. 

“We don’t have anywhere to go anyway.” Nino continued as he carefully picked his path down the slope, avoiding the loose rock.

“Hmm, that’s true…” Ohno agreed.

“Say Nino, you grew up in Thestia didn’t you, do you know anyone who can bring us across the river?” Aiba asked.

Nino scratched an itch behind his ear. “I don’t know… Maybe Nagase will know someone… That’s if we can find him….”

 

They were only reaching the outskirts of Thestia, just about where the city gates were getting into sights, when Nino spotted familiar faces.

“Pan-kun! Pulin-chan!” Nino called out.

“Nino-san!” The kids called running as they recognised Nino.

“My goodness, you kids are so big now!” Nino exclaimed.

“Nii-san! Where have you been! We have not seen you in sooo long!” Pan-kun exclaimed.

“I’ve been busy, do you know where Nagase nii-chan is?” Nino asked as he ruffled the hair of the little street urchins.

“He got a house!” Pan exclaimed.

“In the north district!” Pulin chimed.

“Let’s go!” The kids replied before rushing towards the city gates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Virtual cookies for anyone who can guess where the names of the kids came from!


	21. Nagase

They found Nagase in a little cottage sharpening his knife on the grinding stone. 

“Oi! Nino! What brings you to Thestia in these rough times? Missing you peaceful life with the Aibas?” Nagase called out heartily as Nino entered the house.

Nagase frowned when he saw the other three trailing behind Nino. “Your friends?” Nagase asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Yeah… Chaotic times indeed.” Nino replied, introducing his friends to Nagase, telling him a short of their adventures so far.

“So… You need to find a boat to Mikatsuki?” Nagase concluded.

“Yes… Please help us Nagase, you must know somebody.” Nino pleaded.

“Well…” Nagase stalled.

“Aw Nii-san, after all that we’ve been through?” 

“No no, it’s not that I don’t want to help you… I mean, the boat is not a problem… But the guards…” 

“Eh guards? The Enlightened army?” Sho asked as his eyes widened.

Nagase nodded. “It seems like the new King has sent his personal army throughout the country. I don’t think he trusts the old generals to obey him.”

“Well that makes sense. I wouldn’t trust a King who just usurped the throne like that. Everything was really peaceful too.” Nino agreed.

“Yeah… Under Joshima leader ne?” Nagase sighed.

“Any news of what happened to…”

“Joshima? Nope. No idea at all. All I know is that he hasn’t come knocking for help.” Nagase shrugged.

Sho stood at the side, jaw dropping as he listened to the duo talk about the former King like they were best friends. Sho was sure his dad would whip him if he talked about the King with such disrespect.

“So… About the boat…” Sho interjected. All the talk about the former King was making him uncomfortable.

“Well, the guards are checking the documents of every passenger carefully now, and questioning everyone about their purpose to travel.” Nagase sighed.

“Eh… But why aren’t they checking those who enter and leave the city? Only at the harbour?” Nino asked.

“Yeah, only at the habour. Goodness knows why!” Nagase shrugged. “I don’t know what you guys are up to… But you’re going to be in trouble Nino… I hear that they have been hunting for the Ninomiyas.” 

“Eh! Why? Why would they want to get Nino?” Ohno and Sho exclaimed.

Nagase ignored them.

“So your friends don’t know eh? Oh wells. You probably should seek out Ogura-san, he has your documents.” 

Nino pouted. 

“Pan-kun, show the gang the guest room. You four will have to share the one room today.” Nagase called as he went back to grinding his knife. 

The conversation was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pan-kun is really famous... He even has his own (very short) [wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankun). Anyone guessed it right? :P Pulin-chan is Pan-kun's daughter... She was born two years ago... In the fic though they make cameo appearances as humans... :P


	22. Ogura-san

“Ne… So why are you being hunted?” Ohno whispered to Nino as they climbed up the stairs.

Nino merely shrugged, not bothering to grace the latter with a reply.

 

“I’ll go pick up my documents… Don’t you say a word Aiba. You guys wait here till I come back.” WIth that, Nino walked out of the guest room.

 

Despite not having been to Thestia in two years, Nino had no trouble navigating the streets. Mostly because the streets of Thestia didn’t change much. Nino had no problems locating the mansion in the east side of Thestia in which his godfather, Ogura-san stayed.

It wasn’t that the old man was mean, or that Nino hated him. He was 10 by the time he met the now retired city official, and he had spent his life growing up on the streets. Staying with Ogura-san, despite the size of his mansion, felt like living in a sterile cage. Nino was a playful, wild child, and he liked nothing better than stealing a fruit from the market stall and splashing in the rain. Studies bored him to death, and he was constantly climbing out of the house gate to escape from his tutors. Eventually, Ogura gave up and let Nino do as he wish.

Nino had a lot to thank Ogura for though. He had gotten ran over by a horse carriage and was lying on the road bleeding to death when Ogura spotted him. Not only had the old man brought him to the hospital, and paid for his bills, he even adopted Nino and nursed him back to health. And it was also thanks to Ogura’s detective efforts that he knew about his parents. Heck, he wouldn’t even have know his full name otherwise.

Ninomiya Kazunari.

His birth certificate wrote. His family and relatives were all murdered apparently. Together with their neighbour’s child. Ogura said they probably mistook the child for Nino and killed the wrong person. Despite Ogura’s connections, they couldn’t find the killers. But now, Nino thought he had a pretty good guess who the killers were.

The Enlightened.

Nino sucked his breath as he knocked on the door. A maid opened the door and gasped when she saw Nino.

“Gosh. Bo-chan! It’s been so long! You finally decided to come back?” The maid exclaimed.

Ogura came shuffling into the corridor.

“Oi! Nino, is that you, come in!” Ogura yelled as he spotted Nino, waving him over.

“Go bring us some food and drink!” Ogura ordered.

“Nino! What brings you here, is everything alright with you?” Ogura asked.

“I’m fine… I just need my identity documents…” Nino said.

“Why would you want them for? And what has happened with you over the past few years. Come in and tell me about it!” Ogura said as he showed Nino to the living room.

Nino sat down on the armchair and gave Ogura a run down of his recent adventures.


	23. Magic

“So… You want the travel documents so you can go to Mikatsuki? And you and your friends want to visit Dragas?” 

Nino nodded.

“But you know, I think the Enlightened would certainly be alert if they see your family name….” Ogura whispered.

“Yeah… I’ll just have to use a little… trick…” Nino said carefully.

“But that’s exactly…” Ogura frowned.

“What they are looking for, yes… But I’ve been practising. I’ll be able to make it work, I’m sure. It won’t be for long anyway. I passed by the harbor earlier and they were just doing a quick glance at the documents.” Nino said.

“Be careful Nino. Be careful. With King Joshima gone, even I won’t be able to protect you.” Ogura said with a sigh.

 

They set off for the harbour the next day. True to his word, Nagase found a boat and a captain to sail them across. 

“Oi! It’s you! Yamaguchi nii-san! You’re sailing boats now?” Nino asked.

“Hey you little rascal. Long time no see,” Yamaguchi replied as he tackled Nino.

“Let’s go to the harbour, and sail out as soon as possible. You guys all have your documents ready eh?”

The four boys nodded.

“Remember, call me Kazu from now on ok?” Nino whispered.

Another nod. The boys followed Nino silently to the harbour and got in line for the check.

 

“Sannomiya Kazuya?” 

Nino nodded and smiled, putting his acting skills to good use as he appear most casual and relaxed.

The guard in black hood nodded and waved Nino across.

The four boys let out a sigh of relief when they pulled up the anchor onto the ship.

“So what was that about?” Sho turned to ask Nino.

Just then, the guards came running towards the boat.

“Stop the boat, stop the boat, Ohno Satoshi is on board!” The guards yelled as they readied their bows and arrows.

“Quick! The release the sails!” Yamaguichi bellowed as he rushed over to the helm of the ship. 

Ohno stared at the arrows flying towards the ship and willed them to stop. The arrows fall harmlessly into the sea. 

“Ready the boats! Where’s the stupid sorcerer when we need her!” The guard commander yelled.

“Oh no! They are coming!” Aiba’s face turned pale as the guards pushed their rowing boats into the water. There was little wind by the shore and they would be taken over in no time.

“Oh-chan! Wind! We need wind!” Sho gasped urgently.

The two of the concentrated on the air around them and willed the air into the sails.


	24. Wave

A huge gust of wind blew into the sails and they picked up speed, but only for a short while.

Sho tired out quickly, and Ohno too bent down gasping. 

“Ohno-kun are you ok?!” Sho rushed over in alarm.

Ohno rested for a moment to catch his breath.

“Maybe I can…” Nino started to say something when Aiba cut him off.

“No Kazu! Don’t!” 

“But look, they are gaining on us!” Nino exclaimed.

“I’ll do it…” Ohno grunted as he willed himself to stand up.

Moving to the side of the ship, Ohno raised his hands and pointed to the sea and then quickly snapped his wrist.

At his command, a huge wave raised out from the sea and washed towards the shore, capsizing the little row boats in the process. Ohno could just feel their own boat rock in response when the world around him went black.


	25. Blackout

When Ohno came to, he was lying in the bunk bed below deck.

“Oh-chan! Are you ok?” Sho rushed over to Ohno as soon as he saw the latter wake up.

“I’m fine… But what happened?” Ohno asked as he sat up, his mind started spinning from the attempt.

“Geez, careful there. You blacked out. We, meaning me and Yamaguchi, thinks you overused your magic.” Sho explained.

“But… But… That has never happened before.” Ohno said, puzzled.

“Well, this is normal. That you have never experienced it before was not.” Sho berated Ohno.

“I mean… Even after just moving the air for a while… I was exhausted already. And I could do that for hours without anything bad happening before…” Ohno said, his voice trembling as he spoke.

“Yeah yeah. Rest up, you’re too weak to even speak now, I’ll get you some porridge ok?” Sho replied as he tucked Ohno in the bed once more.

When Sho returned with the porridge, Ohno had already fallen asleep.


	26. Ninomiya Kazunari

Ohno was feeling much better by the next morning. Unfortunately, Nino was not. The poor boy had spent the better part of the first day throwing up and groaning in bed from the motion sickness. Still, he owed the rest of them an explanation and he decided not to put it off anymore. 

“So… What’s with Sannomiya? How did you even get the guard to read your name that way? I saw your papers, it clearly read Ninomiya.” Sho asked.

“Well…” 

Nino showed the rest his palm. 

“Look at my hand.” Nino said.

The Sho and Ohno watched as the characters for ‘three’ appeared on Nino’s palm.

“Eh! How the heck did you do that!” Sho gasped.

“Illusions? You can make illusions?” Ohno frowned.

Nino nodded. “Yup, I added an extra stroke to my name so he guards thought my name was Sannomiya…”

“Wow! This is amazing. You are so amazing Nino!” Sho gushed.

Nino shrugged. “And that is why my family got killed.”

“Eh? Why!” Ohno asked.

“Bloodline magic.” Aiba replied.

“The same reason why they killed the Aibas. The Ninos were hunted because they had this magic.” Aiba grunted.

“Apparently illusionists can become really powerful, and someone, somewhere hated the illusionists and decided to kill every single Ninomiya.” Nino stated.

“Except you,” Ohno noted.

“Yeah, they thought they killed me, apparently they killed an innocent child in my stead… I don’t know. But then… Yesterday… They were calling out for you Ohno-san…” Nino threw the question back at Ohno.

“Yeah… And I swear, I have no idea why they are targeting me.” Ohno frowned.

“Could it be… The same reason why Pranas was razed?” Sho suggested.

“Pranas?” Aiba asked.

Ohno sighed and retold the tale of how he found out his entire village and family was murdered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically Nino changed his name from 二宮和也 to 三宮和也. And you might already know that an alternative pronunciation for 和也 is Kazuya.


	27. River is a misleading name

"What the heck?! That means that we are all orphans now. Except for Sho… I think I’m gonna throw up…” Nino said as he rushed to the side of the boat.

Aiba came over to Nino with a towel.

“Still seasick?” 

Nino nodded as he took the towel in appreciation.

 

“Say, how long are we going to take to get to Mikatsuki?” Sho asked Yamaguchi.

“Well, we can’t sail over to Winsor now that the Enlightened are after us…. So we are going to sail across directly to Dragas, there are plenty of spots that we can land undetected there. If the good weather holds up and I’ve got my directions right, we should reach Dragas in another two days.”

“This is good weather?” Sho asked.

“Yup, this is Misty River after all, though more like a sea than a river. It’s quite big honestly.” Yamaguchi noted.

Sho nodded as he looked at the back of a still puking Nino. For his friend’s sake, he hoped they would reach Dragas as soon as possible. Sho was heartened to note that Nino seemed less cold towards him and Ohno now, even though he still refused to talk about his past. But at the very least, Nino wasn’t pushing Sho away like he used to. Whether it was really because Nino was warming up to them, or because he was just too seasick to care, Sho couldn’t tell. 

Sho sighed as he settled down into his bunk below deck for the night. Things were moving way too fast. He could barely comprehend what was happening. Since the time he left home and met Aiba and Nino… So much has happened along the way. Sho cast a glance at the sleeping Ohno. He was glad that Ohno had recovered now. Aiba seemed like a good chap, and Nino seemed more friendly now… But if things comes down to the crunch, Sho knew that at the very least he could count on his childhood friend. Sho could not have been more glad that he met Ohno. And he counted his lucky stars for being so persistent in gaining Ohno’s friendship back in the academy. Sho thought back on all the times they had together, duelling each other, practising the same moves over and over until Sho could barely move. And then practising some more before sleeping. Sho wished that he could go back to those peaceful days, ignorant of what was happening out in the world. Sho wondered about his friends in the academy. They are probably finishing up the last of their lessons now, and preparing to take part in the final test before graduation. He wondered what his friends thought about Ohno and himself. What did Johnny tell them? The duo had left in such a hurry that he didn’t get to explain to the rest of the classmates what was going on. Sho hoped that everyone was alright, that the Enlightened hasn’t troubled them. Sho pondered about his father, tears welling up his eyes as he remembered the hug his dad gave him before he left. He hoped his dad was alright. Going straight into the dragon’s den, to the Capital… Sho was afraid and confused… His thoughts scattered and mind unsure…

The night was nearly over by the time Sho finally fell asleep in exhaustion.


	28. Land Ahoy!

Nino couldn’t be happier to get back on land. He’d never felt happier to have his feet back on solid ground. 

Yamaguchi gave each of them a ring with the letters JE on it.

“Wow, we actually have a logo and a ring now?” Nino asked.

Yamaguchi nodded. “Yeah, it’s something Joshima came up with. Not that I think it actually helps with anything…. But whatever the leader wants eh?”

“What’s this ring for?” Aiba piped.

“If you need help from anyone that’s working for Joshima, you just have to show them the ring.” Yamaguchi replied.

“But how will we know if they are working for Joshima?” Aiba asked innocently.

“Very good question. I have no idea either. I guess that depends on your judgement and how much information you can gather? It seems like Joshima has given out a ton more of these rings than I previously thought… I don’t even know the extent of his network myself.” Yamaguchi confessed.

“Anyway, listen, we believe that we have spies in the JE group now. I wouldn’t trust anyone but the TOKIO members. Our contact in Mikatsuki would be Kokubun Taichi. If you need anything, look for him and show him the ring and he’ll help you. And in case you need to go to the Capital Akatsuki or just to Varrock, Matsuoka Masahiro would be your man. Have you met them before Nino?”

Nino shook his head.

“Oh… Oh wells. They have heard of you though. We talk about you quite often you know?” Yamaguchi nodded. “Please be careful. I heard that there’s quite a resistance movement that has started in Mikatsuki, so you guys should be fine as long as you can find them.” Yamaguchi said as he waved the little group goodbye.

“So Nino… What’s this JE and what is TOKIO? You’ve never even told me before,” Aiba pouted as he examined the ornate silver ring.

“Ah… That… It’s a long story.” Nino said. “Do you guys really want to hear it?” 

Three eager heads nodded back.

Nino closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Did he really want to tell his story? Once he did there would be no turning back… Despite his initial reluctance to befriend Ohno and Sho, the two seemed pretty trustworthy to him. Ohno with his shy, innocent look… And Sho was always offering to help him when he was vomiting all over himself. As for Aiba? He’d been with the Aibas for long enough that he treated Aiba like his own brother, though he’d never found the opportunity or need to tell Aiba his whole story. All his life, he’d spent it judging, mistrusting and second doubting others. Such was life on the streets. Nino trusted his judgement of people. Or maybe he was just sick of doubting others all the time and running from place to place, that he so desperately hoped he finally found some friends whom he could trust. But Nino had already showed his friends his illusion magic. What harm could there be in letting them know the rest of his story? 

“Let’s get on the road first, I’ll tell you along the way.” Nino finally sighed.

Nino hoped he won’t regret his decision in the future.


	29. Joshima, the Emperor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to review and add on to my chapters before posting... So hopefully you'll see longer chapters and a more in depth story from now on.

“I was about five years old when I met him.” Nino started.

“Met who?” Sho asked.

“Joshima.”

“Eh! The former King?” Sho asked.

“Yup. Of course, at that time, I didn’t know who he was. He was just another of the weird Ojisans roaming the streets of Thestia. I thought he was another homeless man like me. He’s a nice guy. Gave me some food and sent me on my way. Later on I met Nagase and he took me into his shack by the outskirts of the city. We moved every so often, to avoid the authorities… And we made our living begging on the streets. But the thing is… Nagase never ran out of food to feed us, the twenty or so kids. We had decent meals, we were properly clothed… Nothing fancy of course, just hand me downs and plain cotton shirts. But we never had to go around naked or go hungry. Only later did I know it was because the King was looking out for us. He and Nagase were friends or something. Apparently Joshima would sneak out of the palace when he was young and roam the streets pretending to be a beggar, and that was how he and a few other friends, the members of TOKIO met.” 

“Wait… So the King… He pretended to be a beggar?” Sho exclaimed in disbelief.

“Apparently… That’s what I heard. When he was still a young kid you know? Before he became King.”

“Later on he realised how useful the friendship was though, he got his friends to go to different parts of Vihar. Nagase came to Dotas and settled there in Thestia. His job was to raise the street urchins and have them act his eyes and ears. And Nagase in turn would alert the King if anything suspicious was going on. We called the group JE internally, standing for Joshima Emperor for something of that sort. Yamaguchi would always come and go. He loved travelling and never stayed in once place for long. I never met the rest of TOKIO and only met Joshima once after I started hanging out with Nagase and the lot. It was right after we moved to a new lot, and Yamaguchi was there too. There was plenty of drink and meat too, we ate like kings that night. It was quite a feast…” Nino reminisced.

"They called Joshima the leader. That’s about all I know. I hung around with Nagase for about 7 years before venturing out of Thestia. Hanging out with him was good, I had food and shelter… But I just got bored you know? I had swindled everyone I could in bar doing magic tricks, and I was looking for a little adventure. So I ventured out and eventually reached Hestia, finding food and bed in Aiba’s house in exchange for performing some tricks for the guests…. ” Nino explained.

“So if Nagase and Yamaguchi doesn’t know what happened to Joshima… Then he might well have been killed?” Sho said darkly.

“Probably… If they have not heard anything… Then we really don’t know… We can only hope that Dragas has some answers…” Nino sighed.

“And what about that Ogura person?” Sho asked.

Nino related the tale of how he met Ogura, and explained how it was finally thanks to Ogura that Nino knew about his heritage and his family.

“I did read before about how powerful the illusionists were, it was said that they can manipulate people and even turn illusions into reality, is it true?” A curious Sho quipped.

Nino shrugged his shoulders.

“How am I supposed to know? I’ve never met any.” Nino let out a little snort.

“Well I can make illusions alright, and with illusions you can definitely manipulate people… But turn illusions into reality? I’ve never heard of that.” Nino said after a moment of thought.

Sho shrugged. “I don’t know either. It’s just something that I read before in the library.” 

Nino spread his arms and shrugged.

 

Telling his story had been easier than expected. He didn’t know what to expect from his companions, but he was certainly glad that they didn’t judge him. If anything, it made Sho more intrigued to learn about his magic and history. Not that Nino could say much because he honestly didn’t know much himself. But Sho’s words about turning illusions into reality certainly intrigued Nino. He wonder if he too, could master that magic. 

Suddenly, a clog clicked in Nino’s head. Of course! That was why his whole family, the whole bloodline had been massacred. Illusionist were too damn powerful, too much of a threat to the Enlightened. He’d heard from Ogura that the Ninomiyas were loyal to the Emperor. Then if so, getting rid of the Ninomiyas would be paramount in the Necromancer’s road to glory. Nino let his imagination run wild, thinking of the possibilities he could make if he could turn his illusions into reality. For starters, he wouldn’t need to work because he could make all the gold coins in the world. And imagine if there was a wall… Perhaps he could create entire city walls just with his magic. Or even entire mountain ranges. How could you possibly win, if the Ninomiyas were there, manipulating the very Earth. No amount of army would win if the Ninomiyas could suddenly create a giant sinkhole and let the earth swallow up the Enlightened forces. Perhaps that was why his family was targetted so many years ago, before anyone suspected even the slightest thing, before any alarms were raised. All killed in one fell swap. Nino’s heart burned with fear and anger.

“But I’m alive, against all odds. I will master my magic and take revenge!” Nino silently vowed.


	30. Dragas

Dragas was deserted when they reached, skeletons of burnt out buildings littered the town.

“Oh… Gosh… We are too late…” Aiba gasped, tears swelling up in his eyes again.

“Let’s take a look around anyway… Find the magic guild…. Maybe we can still find something useful…” Sho muttered. He felt like he was grasping at straws but they had to try.

“How could this have even happened? Aren’t the Kaisers the best magicians of the Land?” Ohno wailed.

“I don’t know… But then the Enlightened have even killed my whole family… In any case, I heard that the Kaisers were merely chosen as the leaders of the magic guild, and that it didn’t wasn’t actually chosen because of their combat ability” Nino muttered.

“Well I don’t see any corpses around so maybe that’s a good sign?” Sho noted.

“Maybe they fled the city in time or something,” Ohno concurred.

“That… That would be good…” Aiba sniffed. 

“Does anyone know where the magic guild is?” Sho asked.

They shook their heads.

“I only roamed around Dotas… This is unknown territory to me.” Nino frowned as the stared at the sparse map.

“Geez… Isn’t there a more detailed map of Dragas around?” Nino complained.

Sho shrugged. “There probably is, but we don’t have it…"

 

The boys decided to split up and look around.

Ohno was the one who found the ruins of the magic guild. He sent a fireball into the sky to alert the rest.

“Geez. I still think that’s a stupid idea… We should have explored the town together…” Sho grumbled as he found Ohno.

Ohno shrugged and put his hand up. “Hey, this is the fastest way… And this place really seems deserted…” Ohno defended himself.

“In either case it was Nino who suggested that we do this…”

As Ohno mentioned the young illusionist, Nino and Aiba appeared. They had gone searching together as Aiba had no means to alert the rest should he find the ruins.

 

They were about to enter the massive ruins of the guild when an arrow appeared at their feet, scaring the living spirits out of Aiba.

“Who’s there!” Sho quickly got into combat mode as he moved to the front to shield the group.

Ohno too unsheathed his katana.

“That’s my question. Who the hell are you!” A voice answered in the distance.

“I’m Sakurai Sho, son of the General Sakurai Shun. We came here on a mission to find the Kaisers and find out the truth about the Necromancer Eremes!” Sho replied.

“What the fuck Sho!” Nino gasped.

“How could you just tell the enemy everything like that!” Nino protested.

“I don’t think the Enlightened would have to resort to shooting arrows…” Sho hissed under his breath, though truth to be told, the fact that revealing their identity would be dangerous had never crossed his mind. To him, it was just the right thing to do, announcing one’s name and intent before a duel. Of course, this wasn’t a duel they were getting in to… Perhaps his dad had brought him up too righteously. Sho drew a deep breath and tried to focus his thoughts. 

A young boy with curled hair and thick eyebrows appeared from the ruins. He had an arrow nocked on his bow as he slowly approached the boys.

“Put your weapons down!” The newcomer ordered.

Sho and Ohno looked at each other and they compiled. The newcomer walked closer then stopped about 50 paces away, brows furrowed in concentration.

“Jun-kun?” Aiba suddenly exclaimed.

That caught the new comer completely off guard, but Jun quickly regained his composure and hid his surprise.

“How do you know my name?” Jun asked, clearing his throat. 

“The dagger! The purple sapphire set in the hilt and scabbard! My dad make it for the Matsumotos! Said it was going to a boy about my age named Jun!” Aiba bounced up and down in excitement.

Jun frowned and put down his bow, wondering how to proceed next.


	31. Musashi

Jun frowned in concentration for what seemed like an eternity before finally un-nocking his arrow and placed it back in the quiver. 

“Eh so you are an Aiba?” He frowned at the man with a slight brown tinge in his hair.

“Gosh, I really loved that dagger. The gemstones are so beautiful. Musashi isn’t it? The name of the blade.”

Jun nodded. “So you really are an Aiba… And what’s with this strange group… An Aiba travelling with a Ninomiya, and a Sakurai… And you are…?” Jun frowned as he eyed Ohno.

“Eh, how do you know I’m Ninomiya?”

Jun looked like he was about to answer when his face suddenly went white.

“Quick, we have to go, follow me!” Jun yelled as he ran into the guild ruins.

Bewildered, the boys picked up their weapons and followed Jun into the ruins.

Jun weaved about the remains of the guild till they reached an empty alleyway. Jun put his hands on the ground and muttered an incarnation. Nothing happened for a while then suddenly a flash of light lit the area in front of Jun and a trap door revealed itself.

“Come!” Jun gestured as he jumped into the hole. The boys looked at each other, wondering whether they should follow Jun.

“Hurry up!” Jun urged.

“I guess we have no choice?” Sho shrugged as he jumped in.

The trapdoor slammed shut as soon as the last boy jumped in, leaving the boys in total darkness.

“Who the heck are you?” Nino demanded in the dark.

“Shhh, the Enlightened are coming, I can feel their ominous auras. Hold onto each other and follow me,” Jun whispered.

“I can make us some light,” Ohno volunteered as he conjured a ball of light with his magic.

“Oh great, I don’t have to do it then…” Jun muttered as he hurried down the tunnel.


	32. Auras are colorful

They started walking into the narrow and endless tunnel. They were able to proceed briskly at first, but then the tunnel started narrowing and rocks littered the path, making the going slow and tedious. 

“How long does this tunnel go on for?” Nino complained.

“It’s quite long… Brings us right to the edge of Shiso… We’ll reach a large cavern soon… Let’s rest and talk there.” Jun replied. 

True to his words, the tunnel began to widen and finally deposited them into a large cavern. 

The cavern was huge, it could easily fit the entire magic guild building inside. Sunlight filtered through a small opening in the roof of the cavern, casting long, shadows on the walls. Sho counted a a total of 6 tunnels leading into the cavern.

Ohno snuffed out his magical light.

“Wait, Oh-chan, you’re ok? With the magic use?” Sho suddenly asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine… It’s not tiring at all.” Ohno replied.

“But on the boat…?” 

“I don’t know… But it’s back to normal again…” Ohno shrugged.

“Ok, I think it’s safe here to talk… .” Jun said, as he cast a wary glance around the place.

“Yeah, we have to talk… How did you know my name and who are you? And why do you seem to trust us so easily…? Do you have some special magic to kill us?” Nino frowned.

“Hopefully it’s safe… I can’t detect auras properly underground…” Jun muttered, distracted.

“Oi, did you hear me?” Nino asked.

Jun took a deep breath.

“Well, I can read auras. I’m a Kaiser.” Jun replied.

“Eh, what?” The rest asked in surprise and confusion.

“What do you mean?” Nino asked.

“I can see auras. Like your’s Ninomiya… The auras of your family is bright yellow. And you Sakurai… Are a defence and meelee magic user… You are really good at strengthening your celestial bronze. I see it’s all covered in bright, angry red. Redder than the blood of men.”

“But it’s not red?” Aiba interjected.

“I mean, the aura. He covered his armour with his aura.”

Aiba’s mouth made a silent ‘o’.

“And Aiba… You have a brilliant green aura… I have never seen it before though I’ve heard of your family magic...”

“Eh? Magic?” Aiba asked, surprised. “But I can’t use magic…” 

“Eh…? Is that so? But you do have a unique aura…” Jun noted.

“And what color is Ohno’s aura?” Sho asked.

“Eh? Ohno?” Jun asked, surprised. “He can use magic?”

“Erm… The light? It’s his…” Nino pointed out.

“Oh right…” Jun’s face flushed red in embarrassment as he mentally smacked himself.

“I’m sorry…! Cause cause… Earlier when I was examining your auras… Ohno had no aura at all. Which is kind of weird because normally people just have a non-descript white aura but… I just thought maybe I’m not good enough or something…. But now that you mention it… I think I see a faint light blue…” Jun said as he squinted his eyes.

“Eh! No aura? How can it be! But Ohno has the strongest magical abilities out of all the people I’ve ever met! He can shoot fireballs for hours on end!” Sho exclaimed.

“I don’t know… I’m just saying what I see… You and Nino’s aura are particularly strong…” Jun frowned.

“Anyway, I was going to say that I could sense no ill intent in your auras, well in three of you anyway, that’s why I decided to trust you.” Jun concluded.

“Ok… So you can see auras… But just exactly who are you, and why did you drag us here?” Nino questioned.

“Sorry… I’m Matsumoto Jun… One of the Kaisers…. As I said, I can sense auras… And I sensed the black auras of the Enlightened earlier… At least 20 of them, approaching the magic guild rapidly, probably on horseback” Jun said as a shiver went down his spine.

“It feels a little... Chilly here… Maybe we should keep moving… Just so you know, I can’t sense auras properly underground…” Jun warned.

Jun started walking again, moving briskly and worriedly across the large cavern.


	33. Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm the next few chapters of the story requires some major rewriting on my part... Just a short chapter for today. Enjoy.

Jun checked his surroundings cautiously as he walked across the cavern. Something wasn’t right. He cursed himself for being unable to sense auras properly underground… All he could see was a foggy mist - the mana of Mother Earth - surrounding them. What if the small force of Enlightened he sensed in Dragas earlier was but a bait to force him underground? Surely the Enlightened knew of the weakness of the Kaiser’s blood magic. What if the Enlightened had found the entrance to these tunnels and had them surrounded? Heck, where did the rest of the tunnels even lead to? Jun only knew the path leading from Dragas to Shiso, nothing else. The caves were vast and the tunnels lengthy… Jun knew that ever since his grandfather’s time, they had spend plenty of time and effort to map the tunnels, but many mapping parties had gone missing… Large areas of the tunnels remain unexplored. 

Suddenly, Jun felt an ominous black wall closing in onto him, suffocating and making him unable to breath.

“Black….” Jun muttered as he tried to calm himself down and steady his voice.

“Black?” Ohno asked.

Jun nodded. “The Enlightened…” Jun whispered as his face turned pale.

Before Jun could speak another word, a cry echoed through the cave. 

The boys looked around in panic as black shadows started filing into the cavern from three tunnels in all directions. The black Enlightened army moved quickly to the side, circling in a clockwise direction, blocking every path of escape, streaming and stirring in like a typhoon. It was a well planned ambush, and the boys were all trapped before they could even figure out what was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for reading my fic, hope you're enjoying it so far.
> 
> I just want to explain to you readers a little about this fic/myself... 
> 
> This is my very first chaptered, fantasy fic. I've always had trouble writing chaptered fics... My only other attempt at chapter fics is well, still uncompleted and in hiatus after all these years. Hence my priority for The Chronicles isn't to write long chapters, but rather to simply *finish* telling the story. Sure I want to make the story as exciting as possible... But this is still my very first attempt, and it seems like I'm not really doing a good job on balancing the pace... Introducing too many characters and making things confusing etc... I'm trying to rewrite things a little before posting, but that depends on how much time I have to write each day... And ultimately, I just want to actually *finish* the fic more than anything else. Sure I could have combined chapters and so on... But when I initially started writing... I just couldn't bring myself to write longer chapters. Hence all the little drabbles... Anything as long as I can keep writing and ultimately complete the story.
> 
> So I hope you'll understand why each chapter is so short! Cheers!


	34. Betrayal

The five boys huddled together in a tight circle. Escape was out of the question, the enemy already had them encircled. 

“Fuck!” Jun swore.

Sho had his sword unsheathed and he gripped onto the hilt tightly, getting ready for the inevitable fight. Beside him, Ohno too had his hand on the katana hilt, though he did not draw his sword.

More Enlightened streamed into the cavern, circling them and watching from a distance, as if waiting for instruction. Sho tried to do a quick estimation. There were easily 200 Enlightened, and just 5 of them. As good as a fighter he and Ohno was, Sho was certain this would not end well.

An Enlightened appeared from the back of the army, unlike the others, he was wearing a robe with gold trims, indicating his higher rank. He pushed back his hood and revealed a handsome face underneath.

“Akanishi!” Nino exclaimed as he recognised the face of his childhood friend. Akanishi was another of the many street urchins who found shelter in Nagase’s place.

“What… Why are you with them?” Nino balked. 

“Why? Can’t you tell? Because I’m their commander,” Akanishi smirked. 

“Whattt…?” Nino stammered. “Are you going to kill us?” Nino hissed.

Akanishi laughed. “I thought you’ve always been smarter than this, Ninomiya Kazunari.” Akanishi snarled as he emphasised Nino’s family name. 

“After all that we’ve been through?” Nino spat. 

“And so?” Akanishi smirked. “Just what have you actually done for me huh? Do you have gold? Can you give me an army to command?” Akanishi laughed hysterically. 

“All the times we ran from the cops, worked together to steal food, all the adventures we had, you call that nothing? You fucking crazy traitor!” Nino yelled, the blood rising up his head.

“You know what? The Necromancer promised me eternal life and riches if I can kill you and this Kaiser over there,” Akanishi said as he jerked a finger at Jun. “So just be good and give me your head.” Akanishi laughed again. 

“Or… Since you’re my good friend and a skilled illusionist, I’m giving you a chance. Join the Enlightened army and we’ll spare your friends. Otherwise, you shall die here.” Akanishi grinned, emphasizing the word illusionist. 

“Over my dead body!” Nino spat.

“Oh, you want to fight? What do you want to do, make illusions and scare me?” Akanishi laughed like a banshee.

“Ill kill you with my own hands!” Nino cried as he whipped out his dagger.

Akanishi laughed.

“With a dagger? Well good luck then. Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance!"

At Akanishi’s hand signal, the Enlightened army charged.


	35. Cavern

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS: Some graphic description of violence included in this chapter.

Nino briefly regretted letting his anger get the better of him. The cavern was huge and the enemies were still a distance away, but they were closing in fast. And watching the hoard of black figures coming in at them from all directions, Nino didn’t feel so brave anymore. As much as he would rather die than work for the Necromancer… He didn’t actually want to die. Nino gritted his teeth and summoned the most realistic, large scale fire he could manage. The sudden burst of flames scared both his companions and the enemy.

“It’s fake, go go go!” Akanishi urged.

“Ok… What now?” Ohno asked in a calm, also irritated tone.

“I guess we kill them?” Sho helpfully suggested.

Perhaps it was his training kicking in, or because he knew his best friend and the world’s best fighter (in his eyes) was right there beside him, calm and collected. Sho couldn’t help but feel assured too. Whatever happened, with Ohno by his side, they would survive. 

Ohno looked around the cavern, his mind raced as he tried to come up with a strategy. 

“Which way to Shiso?” Ohno asked urgently.

Jun pointed at one of the tunnels in the opposite direction from where they came from.

No good.

It was one of tunnels which the Enlightened had come in from.

Ohno pointed to a wall slightly off to the side. Better to pick a wall to back against then an unknown tunnel with possibly more enemies to come at them.

Sho grimy nodded. 

Meanwhile, Akanishi had gotten his army back under control and the army was advancing forward once more. As the front troops reached the illusion, the illusion broke apart and Nino fell on his knees, panting at the effort.

“Hahaha! What a futile move! Die now Nino, die!” Akanishi’s gleeful voice rang throughout the carven.

Jun shot out a magically charged arrow in Akanishi’s direction. The arrow punched through the enemies in a straight line, falling the Enlightened in it’s path like they were dominos. Akanishi barely avoided the piercing shot, as he dived down onto the floor. A fizzle could be heard as the arrow hit the wall on the other side of the cavern.

“You bastard! Get him!” Akanishi yelled.

Sho didn’t bother waiting. He paved the way with his heavy shield and broadsword, blocking the enemy attacks as best as he could while pushing ahead, away from Akanishi and towards the spot Ohno had indicated earlier. Behind him, Aiba and Nino followed closely, with Nino poking his dagger threateningly at any who tried to come close. Meanwhile, Jun was firing more mana charged arrows at whichever direction that seemed to have the highest concentration of invaders. While Jun managed to get at least 5 Enlightened in his first shot, the enemies quickly wisened up and scattered all over, making it harder and harder for Jun to make multiple kills with a single shot.

“Come!” Ohno urged as the Enlightened closed in.

Jun gave up on his bow and pulled out his dagger, retreated to join his friends. He caught a quick glance at Ohno. The latter looked absolutely wild, his eyes were narrowed and he was slashing and side stepping attacks at incredible speed. The sound of metal clashing rang throughout the cavern.

Meanwhile, Sho’s ears was ringing from a blow he’d received to the side of his head, thankfully he’d managed to put on his helm before the fighting began. Still, the blow hurt and Sho was seeing stars. His slashes became more haphazard as he blinked away his tears and tried to think and see straight. One down, two, another and another. Sho felt his hits connecting one after another. He could vaguely make out Ohno’s figure darting around behind him, but all he cared was moving forward. Then suddenly, he was out. He’d broken through the line of Enlightened and reached the cavern wall.

Sho paused for a moment to catch his breath and for them to regroup. He made a quick mental calculation.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four…

And himself, five.

They were all alive.

For now.

Ohno was the last to join them, retreating back towards the wall while simultaneously fighting off 4 Enlightened. Sho rushed forward to help. 

“Die!” Sho yelled as he swung his broadsword in a mighty arc, instantly decapitating one of the enemy. Bloodshot out of the fallen man's neck like a fountain, but Sho barely even noticed as yet more enemies came from behind. The wave of enemies seemed endless.

Ohno retreated behind Sho as Jun parried off an attack with his dagger.

As good a fighter as him and Sho were, they had barely killed off a quarter of the enemies, and he’d already gotten slashed on his left arm. If they were going to come out of this alive, he’d have to try something else.

“Hold the line for me!” Ohno yelled to no one in particular as he started casting a fireball. In his own magic exploration, he’d discovered that he could make his fireballs bigger if he held the life force in his hands and kept it there before releasing it. He’d managed to make a fireball about half a meter wide… Ohno figured that maybe he could do something bigger if he kept channelling longer. 

It would work.

It has to.

Only if Sho could hold out for a few precious minutes.

Ohno closed his eyes and willed the life force into his palms, standing there transfixed and unmoving. The world seemed to disappear as all he could feel was his hands getting heavier and hotter as Ohno gathered more and more mana.

“STOP HIM! HE IS CHANNELING!” Akanishi yelled.

The Enlightened army surged forward once again. Sho swung his broadsword in wide arcs, trying to prevent the enemy from reaching them, while Jun and Nino tried their best to keep the enemies from the side at bay. Aiba meanwhile had picked up a sword from the fallen enemies and was brandishing it as best as he could by Nino’s side.

“Ohno, whatever you’re doing, please hurry!” Sho urged.

His swings were getting weaker and less effective. Anytime now, the enemy would break through his defence.

“Idiots!” Akanishi cursed at his troops as he watched them surge uselessly again the behemoth that was Sakurai Sho. He started chanting an incarnation, hoping that it’ll work like the Necromancer had said it would. A swirling mass of black mana appeared at his hands. Akanishi hurled the black ball towards Ohno, hoping that it’ll find it’s mark.

“Get down!” Ohno yelled as he snapped his eyes open. He was at his limit, unable to gather more mana in his arms. He vaguely saw and felt a black ball hit his right shoulder blade, but the pain barely registered. With a mighty cry, Ohno let loose the fireball from his arms. 

Time seemed to have slowed.

Ohno could see Sho rolling out of the way, just in the nick of time as a massive blue sphere left his hands moving towards the other end of the cave, expanding as it went. Screams rang throughout the cavern. Ohno could see some of the enemies at the back of the battle field trying to run off, Akanishi included. But the mana ball continued moving forward and expanded, swallowing them all.


	36. Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, a complete rewrite. And again, it's posted late. *Shrugs* Was going to skip today but in the end I persevered... RL happenings yeah... Can't be helped... But hey, if things work out, it could be a really happy event for me... So yeah... Hoping it turns out well. For more info, read my LJ. It's friend locked though... :P

The blue mana ball expanded to cover almost the entirety of the cavern. The boys raised up their hands to shield themselves from the brilliant blue mana. Nino was crouching behind Aiba and Ohno, while on the other side, Sho and Jun were lying on the floor, hiding behind Sho’s celestial bronze shield. The mana fizzled out at the hit the cavern wall, leaving behind nothing but silence and a sea of dead corpses. The entire army of the Enlightened lay on the floor, unmoving and dead. The corpses nearer the boys had suffered multiple wounds, some even missing an arm or even their heads - victims of Sho’s broadswords. Others merely received multiple slashes, proof of Ohno’s katana work. Meanwhile, those who were killed by Ohno’s mana blast look charred, like they had been burnt in a fire.

“What… What the fuck was that?” Nino spoke, shellshocked as he tried to picked himself off the floor.

The only sound in the cave was Ohno’s heavy breathing and the sound of blood dripping onto the cavern floor. 

“How… How did you do that Ohno” Sho fumbled.

“I don’t know… I just gathered my mana and made a big fireball…” Ohno said, shaking his head. It took him a while to realise that his hands were trembling.

“You’re bleeding…” Sho suddenly noticed the pool of blood gathering at Ohno’s feet. He fumbled around his pack, looking for something to wrap Ohno’s wounds with.

“Is… Is everyone alright?” Ohno asked, trying to recover from the shock himself. He was pretty sure he was trying to make a giant fireball. It came up gigantic alright, way bigger and more effective than expected. But why was it blue? Whatever that thing was, it certainly wasn’t a fireball.

Ohno picked his way through the sea of corpses in a daze and kicked randomly at one of them. They were charred alright… Burnt. But it didn’t look like they were burnt by fire. The ground wasn’t charred either. Whatever magic was it that he had summoned, it wasn’t the intended fire. Just what was that?

Sho approached Ohno from behind, shuddering and he stepped over yet another corpse. 

“We should bandage your wounds…” Sho muttered.

The duo slowly made their way back to the base. Aiba was trying to wash the cut on Nino’s knee and arms with some water, trying his best to conserve what little drinking water they had.

Meanwhile, Jun was concentrating on his own wounds, he seemed to be focusing his own magic and using it to close up the wounds.

“Wow, you can do that with magic?” Ohno asked has he noticed Jun’s wounds closing up.

“Yeah… It’s life force after all, you can use it to accelerate the cell growth and heal wounds… But it takes up a lot of mana so I can only use it to stop the bleeding…” Jun explained as he turned his attention to the large gash on Ohno’s left arm. He had Ohno sit down as he pulled Ohno’s sleeve up.

“Why don’t you just take it off…” Sho suggested, concerned about the wound on Ohno’s right shoulder blade. 

With some reluctance, Ohno took off his tunic. His well toned abs glistened with beats of sweat. But Sho was too horrified to notice. All he could see was the horrific looking black circular wound on Ohno’s right shoulder. It was huge, almost 10 centimetres in diameter. Sho staggered back a little in shock.

“Does… Does it hurt…?” Sho stammered.

“I don’t know… It doesn’t really hurt now…” Ohno replied. Adrenaline was still rushing through his veins.

Ohno turned his attention to Nino who was sitting beside him. Out of pure curiosity, he touched Nino’s arm where a wound was and willed mana into the area.

“What? Ow hey my leg tickles! Oooh oh my arm, it tickles!” Nino yelped in surprise.

The surprise changed to astonishment as he saw his wound close up before his very eyes, leaving nary a trace nor a scar.

“Wow!” Ohno gasped as he proceeded to heal the rest of Nino’s wounds. 

“Ne Oh-chan… Maybe you should heal yourself first?” Nino suggested as the wound on his knee closed. It wasn’t just a superficial healing too. Nino flexed his knees experimentally. They felt good as new.

“It’s not healing…” Jun frowned at Ohno’s gash. It was still bleeding despite all his efforts. 

“Hmm… Let me try…” Ohno muttered as he repeated the same on his left arm. Ohno felt the tingle of mana gathering in his arm… But instead of the wound closing, it seemed to make it bleed even more. Alarmed, Ohno stopped immediately.

“Seems like it doesn’t work huh…” Ohno noted, cocking his head to the side. “I guess we’ll just have to bandage it then…” He muttered.

As Jun cut a strip of cloth to bandage Ohno’s wound, Ohno grabbed his forearm.

“Hey!” Jun yelped in surprise as he felt the familiar warm tingling sensation of life force entering his body, healing his wounds.

“Wait…” Jun gasped as he realised what was happening.

The mana wasn’t flowing from Ohno to him.

It was flowing up from the ground.


	37. Mana

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I probably can combine this with the next chapter. But that would mean I'll never be able to post this today so...

Jun's mind raced, puzzle pieces shifting around his mind. The mana flowing from the ground... The wounds that wouldn't heal with mana... The massive blue mana ball... It sounded like a story from his textbook of legends. Slowly, everything seemed to click into place.

"Oh my goodness..." Jun suddenly exclaimed. "You're an Eremes Ohno-san... You have the blood magic of the Eremes…" 

“Ehhh?? What... what are you talking about?” Ohno was shocked.

"I've learnt about you! I mean... About your family..." Jun gulped, tripping over his own words as he struggled to recall what his tutor taught him.

"Eh? What? Explain!" Sho demanded. The news came too fast and the rest were equally shocked.

“You know how everything in nature has a life force right? Even mother Earth…” Jun tried to explain. 

“Uhuh?” Sho frowned as he gently tried to wash Ohno’s shoulder blade wound.

“Normally people have a mana reservoir… And that’s why I can see your aura colors and all… But Ohno doesn’t have an aura… Unlike the rest of us, you don’t have a life force reservoir at all. Instead, you are able to draw the magic from your surroundings and use them… That… Is the blood magic of the Eremes” Jun recited, hoping that he’d remembered the details right. Everything seemed to match up though.

“And the healing?” Nino quizzed.

“By the simple act of Ohno drawing the life force from the ground through your body… The life force itself is able to heal you.” Jun explained.

“Wow… This is… Unbelievable…” Aiba finally spoke, looking at the horde of dead soldiers at their feet.

“So… That’s why you never tire…” A dawn of realisation hit Sho.

“I guess…?” Ohno muttered and yelped as Sho tried to dab the wound dry. The adrenaline rush was wearing off and he was starting to feel the dull throbbing on his left arm, and the intense searing pain of the unknown magic spell.

“Gosh… What should we do with this?” Sho asked.

Jun conjured up a light so that they could examine the wound better. It was a revolting black, and oozing black blood.

Jun shook his head. 

“It’s poison… Whatever that spell was…” He too saw the black blob flying towards Ohno.

“Anyway why doesn’t life force heal Ohno… What are we supposed to do about this?” Sho asked.

“I think it’s something about how the cells in the Eremes are constantly flooded with mana from the channelling, so they have adapted to be unaffected by mana… Or something to that effect…” Jun frowned as he tried to recall what little he’d learn about healing magic. He felt a tinge of regret for always not paying attention in class when he was younger.

Jun concentrated his sight on Ohno’s wound. He could vaguely make out some black aura in the area, but when he tried to use his magic, the aura wouldn’t bulge.

“I don’t know… I guess we can only bandage it up… I don’t know what else we can do…” Jun muttered.

The black ooze had stopped flowing after Sho appiled some pressure, and they fashioned together a compress bandage with stripes of cloth and tied it up as best as they could. 

“Thanks,” Ohno smiled bravely as he picked himself off the floor. 

Sho offered to help Ohno but the offer was declined. 

“It’s ok, I can walk on my own.” 

“Ok, but let us know if it gets worse or something…” Sho said worriedly.

“Yeah. I will…” Ohno said as he took a deep breath and looked around. “So now what?”


	38. To the light, through the night, to the morning light

“Yeah so… What’s the plan now?” Aiba asked, looking extremely pale in Jun’s flickering dim light.

“No, what was the plan in the first place anyway…” Nino quipped.

Jun sighed as he surveyed the mess around them.

“I’m so sorry… I cannot sense auras well underground… There’s too much lingering mana from the earth so I can’t sense additional auras properly… Initially I was going to bring you to the guild hideout in Shiso but now… Heck… I don’t know anything anymore…” Jun said, his voice quivering at the thought.

“Where did these guys come from? They came from separate tunnels didn’t they?” Nino questioned.

“How did they know we’ll be here…” Nino pondered.

“Could it be that the harbour guards informed them?” Aiba wondered, thinking back on the incident when Nino disguised his name as Sannomiya. 

“But if that was the case, they would have been search for Ohno too right?” Sho commented.

“Wait… So that is why they wanted you! Because you have the blood magic of the Eremes!” Sho gasped in realisation.

“Eh…! But how did they know when I didn’t even know myself…?” Ohno muttered.

Jun merely looked at them confused. Sho quickly gave Jun a rundown on what happened on the boat ride to Dragas. 

“Right… So that’s what happened… Hmm… Maybe I should tell you what happened to me before we met…” Jun sighed. He spent some time pondering just how much of himself he should reveal before finally starting to recount his story.

“So… Well… I was saying that I’m a Kaiser right… And we have the bloodline magic that enables us to sense and see auras… Recently we detected swarms of black auras, the Enlightened, over flowing with ill-intent, heading towards Dragas. Considering the recent events, we guessed that they must be either after us, or our magical artefacts… And so we began to move them towards our second base in the neighbouring town of Shiso. I came back later to check on what happened to the guild, and all I saw were the ruins, and the four of you.” Jun quickly summarised. It wasn’t the whole story, but Jun wasn’t ready to share that yet.

“Well if Akanishi swept through this cave like that, he probably came from there?” Nino asked. “Or some other place? Where do all these tunnels lead to anyway? Wait… let’s…”

Nino walked over to Akanishi’s dead body and started searching, seemingly unaffected by the corpses and carnage around him.

“No idea… I only know the path between Shiso and Dragas… We have no idea where the other tunnels lead to…” Jun started saying.

Suddenly, he stopped mid tracks and his eyes looked like he was about topop out.

“The pendent!” Jun screamed in anguish as he spotted a familiar pendant on the dead man’s neck.

“The Pendent of Truth… How the hell did it get here!” Jun yelled, anger rising.

“Erm, what is it?” Ohno ventured.

“It belongs to my father… The pendent is said to contain the true Vihar histories…” Jun muttered.

“Wait… The Pendent of Truth… Your father… Is the magician warlord…? The head of the magic guild?” Sho inferred.

Jun froze. He’d let it slip without realising. He bit his lip and gave a slight nod. In his shock, he’d revealed his family line without meaning to. The family line that his parents had tried so hard to hide. 

“Yeah... The Pendent of Truth is the symbol of the magic guild headmaster, also known as the magician warlord…” Jun sighed.

Then again, perhaps revealing his identity wasn’t such a detrimental thing after all, considering the crowd he’s in. 

Just before Jun was born, a huge catastrophe befell the magician world - the entire family of illusionists, the Ninomiyas, had been eliminated. Fearing for their own bloodline, his parents declined to give him the surname Kaiser, and gave him to his uncle to raise. Except for the few confidents who knew the truth, to the outside world, the magician warlord did not have an heir. To Jun though, his parents were very much a part of his life. His mum came to live with the uncles in the outskirts of Dragas, citing the want to be closer to nature. So Jun was let in on the dirty secret from a young age. Most dear to him were the times his warlord would bring him and his cousins to the magic guild. Although all the children went along, his dad would only spend time alone with him, hidden in the deep parts of the guild, away from prying eyes. His dad would show him the hidden traps and secret passageways, the magnificent scrolls and books in the library, the enchanted weapons in the armoury, and the magic artefacts in the stronghold. He would talk about the history of the magic guild, about the Ninomiyas and the Eremes that were eliminated by the Necromancer… And finally about how they were only trying to protect him, to prevent him from getting targetted by the Necromancer. And as far as Jun could tell, Nino and Ohno were probably way higher up on the Necromancer’s wanted list than he was.

“Jun? Are you ok?” 

Jun snapped out of his daze to find Nino waving his hands in front of him.

“Oh yeah yeah… Sorry, I was just recalling something…” Jun said apologetically.

He took a deep breath when he noticed the pendent on Nino’s hands.

“Can I see that…?” Jun asked.

“Sure,” Nino said casually as he handed the pendent over. “You should probably hang on to it anyway, since its your dad’s and all…”

“But say… Any idea how it ended up here?” Nino asked, frowning.

“I don’t know…” Jun shook his head.

“All the Kaisers were in Shiso when I left, including erm, my dad and therefore this pendant… And my dad would protect the pendant at all costs… And well… He’s always wearing it? So…” Jun frowned, images of a raze Shiso appearing in his mind.

“Eh? That means this Akanishi person and his troops swept through and kill everyone in Shiso and then came here after us?” Aiba asked.

Jun shook his head again. “I don’t know… The Kaiser bloodline magic isn’t really useful in combat but still… We aren’t that weak you know?” Jun suggested. Part of him was filled with a sense of dread, part of him refused to believe that they would let Shiso fall to the Enlightened. 

“Then either this is a fake… Or you dad is holding on to a fake?” Nino suggested, thinking about all the magic tricks he used to do in taverns.

Jun held up the pendant and examined it under the flickering light from the ceiling of the cavern. The light shone through the giant gemstone, enabling various patterns in the gemstone to be seen. It looked real, the patterns seems to match with his memory.

“Let’s try this…” Jun muttered as he held in pendent in both palm, close to his chest. Jun concentrated and willed for his mana to flow into the pendent. A symbol of the eagle showed up.

“Wow!” The other boys gushed, astonished.

“Ok… I think this is the real thing… I don’t think you can make such a sophisticated imitation…” Jun sighed. “So either the magician warlord got his pendant nicked right in front of him, or Shiso has been razed.” Jun concluded.

“So now… What should we do? Where can we head to…?” Sho questioned.

“I don’t know… But then again, we don’t have much of a choice. Either we head back to Dragas where we came from, or we push on to Shiso. In spite of all our exploring, us Kaisers still don’t know where the rest of these tunnels lead to… ” Jun informed.

“In that case… We don’t have much of a choice… We have to check out the situation in Shiso.” Sho shrugged as he prodded back to where he’d left his pack and gathered up his supplies.

“Lead the way Jun,” Sho commanded.

“Sure… It’ll take us through the night if we hurry. Let’s hope the tunnels are Enlightened free…” Jun nodded in resignation.


	39. We walk, and we walk

The tunnel seemed to go on forever. Jun took over Ohno’s job of providing magical light, but compared to Ohno’s, his light was way dimmer. The shadows on the wall caused the boys to tremble in fear, and every crossroad they came across made them wonder if the Enlightened were going to show up. Thankfully, everything seemed quiet and there was no signs of the Enlightened.

“Hey Nino… Do you think we can find that Kokubun person?” Aiba suddenly asked.

“I have no idea… I don’t even know what he looks like…” Nino shook his head. “Geez… Stupid Yamaguchi… He couldn’t even tell us where Kokubun is!” Nino complained.

“Ne, Ohno-san… There’s a military academy in Konoha isn’t there? It’s just south of Shiso isn’t it?” Sho asked.

“Hmm…. I don’t know…” Ohno mumbled, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the next. What was initially just a dull pain in his shoulder blade had now spread to most of his right chest. 

“Oh-chan are you ok?” Sho stopped to offer Ohno an arm.

“I’m ok, let’s keep moving…” Ohno said, refusing Sho’s help.

 

It was hard to keep track of time in the tunnels. Jun finally spotted a familiar crossroad. 

“We’re almost there, probably another three hours till we reach…” Jun informed them.

“Three hours…” Ohno muttered. Suddenly, he tripped on the uneven tunnel floor and yelled in pain as his injured shoulder hit the ground. The rest rushed to help Ohno up.

“Gosh, you’re all cold!” Sho squeaked as he placed his hands on Ohno’s back.

“It must be the effect of the poison,” Jun muttered as he brightened his light source momentarily.

Ohno’s face was pale and his breathing haggard.

“This is not good… We have to hurry…" Jun muttered as Sho helped Ohno up.

Sho lent Ohno a shoulder and they continued on their way. Sho grew alarmed as Ohno seemed to start having difficulties breathing and leaned more and more heavily on him, eventually even being unable to support his own weight. Aiba offered to carry Ohno on his back, by then, Ohno was barely in a state to even give a proper answer. Aiba picked up Ohno and placed him on his powerful back and the little troop pushed on.


End file.
